Are you suffering from 'Gloom Fatigue'?

To make conversation, I recently asked a shopkeeper ‘how’s business?”. Ten minutes later he was still ranting about the global economy, the Australian sharemarket, seemingly never-ending political uncertainty, high interest rates, aggressive shop rents and tight consumers. I thought his tirade would never end (memo to self: don’t asked stressed-out retailers about their business).

Surpassing customer expectations can revitalise even the most negative people. Illustration: Greg Newington.

I suspect others will join him as the global financial crisis enters a new phase and Australia does not escape as lightly as last time. One senses that this constant stream of bad news since 2008, real or perceived, is grinding people down. The scary part is, the global economy’s healing process might not even be halfway, as US and European economies face recession (sorry to add to the gloom).

What’s your view?

Are you getting sick of never-ending global economic gloom and market volatility?

Is it affecting your performance?

Is your organisation’s culture becoming overly gloomy?

Are people playing the 'Gloom Card' and making more excuses about a slow economy?

Are local politicians to blame: does it seem as if the federal election never ended?

Not for a minute do I underestimate the problem this shopkeeper, or others like him, face. The global economy has incredible threats and Australia will not be immune if they come to pass. Nor would I make light of the shopkeeper’s obvious stress. As The Venture has written many times, depression and anxiety, if they persist, are serious health risks for struggling small business owners and can require medical attention.

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I didn’t have the heart to tell the shopkeeper his problems were partly self-inflicted: his store format has barely changed in the past few years, the product seems stale, and there has not been much clever marketing or genuine innovation. Like other Gloom Fatigue sufferers, this small business owner spends too much time listening to supposed experts and not enough time listening to customers.

Gloom Fatigue does not only affect small enterprises; how many times have you seen people in big companies play the Gloom Card?

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You know what I mean: a salesperson who can’t close the deal blames the bad economy (which isn’t really that bad, even in most sectors not exposed to mining). A manager cuts staff and blames the bad economy, when it’s just about firing people. An employee makes a lesser effort, thinking it will not make much difference in a weaker economy. Or they produce bad-quality work and blame it on their workload, when it is just slackness.

The supposed bad economy becomes a good excuse.

I have had a gutful of retailers playing their Gloom Card: poor trading conditions and the online-shopping threat. How much genuine innovation has there been at David Jones, Myer and Harvey Norman in the past five years? I’m sure big retailers will point to considerable supply-chain and back-office innovation, but from a customer’s perspective, I only see declining service and more reason to shop at outlets that actually help you.

The same goes for advertising. I can’t recall a duller bunch of TV advertisements than the tripe served up this year, and I’m struggling to think of one that has got people talking. It seems the advertising industry is being dealt its own Gloom Card by customers: lower-budget ads, more overtly sales-driven ads, more recycled overseas ads, and less risk taking. It’s Gloom Fatigue at its worst.

Perhaps the real problem is too much amplified information, from too many sources, reaching people through too many channels.

The other problem with Gloom Fatigue is it stops enterprises reinventing their product every few years. Sufferers only see bad news as a threat; they cannot see the opportunity to stand out in a dull market and take share from weakened competitors. Managers are conditioned for bad news and unable to do much beyond cutting costs. They become bogged and forget what it’s like to grow a business. Gloom Fatigue fatally wounds the organisation’s culture.

You might think the notion of Gloom Fatigue is a lark. Think again. My hunch is that another few years of global economic volatility, muted sharemarket returns and weak superannuation – on top of what’s happened since 2008 – will become a much big issue for business owners and managers. We have entire generations who have never experienced years of global economic gloom. For some, staying optimistic and motivated will be a precious skill.

The good news is, Australia’s economy is relatively stronger than most Western nations and has more capacity to deal with external shocks, such as a collapse in European banking. Still, there is always a risk of economies talking themselves into recession, and businesses talking themselves into failure.

My advice to the shopkeeper would be: spend less time listening to so-called experts on business conditions and more time with your customers. Forget about what’s happening overseas and focus on what you can control: pleasing customers. Use the downtime to get the business in order, codify its systems, train staff internally, and sharpen strategy. Double marketing efforts as cheaply as you can and try to stand out. Aim to grow by taking market share from competitors. Don’t give up.

Yes, that’s easier said than done. But what good is wasting time worrying about global economic ills and domestic uncertainty, and letting yourself be bombarded by bad news through newspapers, the internet, emails and smartphones?

Perhaps the real problem is too much amplified information, from too many sources, reaching people through too many channels, at too many times. Too much fiction and not enough fact. Too much self-inflicted Gloom Fatigue (at least from an Australian perspective).

Maybe the only true Gloom Fatigue cure is to stop obsessing about bad news, avoid negative people and, more than ever, love your customers. It’s amazing how surpassing customer expectations, and getting good comments, can revitalise even the most negative people.

Oh, and if a customer asks “how’s business?”, tell them about good things in your venture and what’s ahead.